Butterfly Baby Shower Cake - Our first cake of the week!

    I'd like to do a feature on this blog called "Cakes of the week" where we can showcase some of our favorite cakes that we have made in the past week. Since we aren't really open in our shop, I've been making cakes from friends and family on an unofficial basis. So, that means I haven't really been making a whole lot of cakes yet. This past week, however, I was lucky enough to work with a great client, a friend of a friend, who was planning her baby shower.
    She contacted me through our Facebook page, then we met to talk about flavors and design about a month prior to her event. She selected our red velvet cake with a cream cheese icing as the filling. She was looking for a pretty tiered cake to serve to a medium sized crowd, so we decided on a two tiered cake with white fondant on the outside. The fondant provides support and a little bit of insulation against our hot Philly summers rather than just buttercream or cream cheese icing alone, which could easily melt!

 

Baby C's butterfly cake

 The color scheme of her party was pinks and oranges and she wanted a butterfly theme for her cake. We decided on a white cake with pearlized fondant borders and a cascade of butterflies flying up the cake going from strong pinks and oranges to more pastel towards the top. The cake would also feature a cute little "baby" banner as well as the family's initial on top.
    I looked into getting some pre-made butterflies that I could alter to fit the cake, but in the end I wasn't happy with my options and decided I would be able to get a better variety of colors, size and styles if I made them by hand. (I admit, it's also a point of pride that I prefer to make my own decorations rather than use pre-made ones, so I was feeling a little weird about using the pre-made butterflies anyway). So, early on in the week I set to work on making the butterflies, some small flowers and the "C" to top the cake.

Allowing the Painted Butterflies to Dry

     I cut the butterflies from colored gumpaste with cutters and by hand to get a range of sizes. Then I wired some of them and allowed them to set up against some old apple pads to get a more 3-D quality. I let them dry for several days, then I dusted them with some different petal and luster dusts for a richer color and hand-painted the black and white details. The last step to the butterflies was using royal icing to pipe their little bodies so that they wouldn't just been a pair of wings! The "C" cake topper was molded by hand and the small cupped flowers were cut and rolled to have a slightly 3-D feel to them. Everything was left to dry until I was ready to decorate the cake.

A close-up showing the "C" topper,
the "baby" banner and butterflies

  I usually finish my cakes the day before they are due. Particularly if they have an early pick up the following morning. I just prefer to work with a little buffer time just in case they are any unexpected complications. So, on saturday morning I iced my two tiers with white fondant (it sits on top of a crumb coat of vanilla buttercream so that the fondant is perfectly smooth and the buttercream serves as the main flavor on the cake.) Then, I assembled my cake, added the borders and made my little banner to go directly against the top tier. Next, I started to apply my butterflies and small flowers by using vanilla buttercream as the glue. The final step was adding the "C" to the top of the cake and perching a tiny butterfly on top.

Butterfly Baby Shower Cake

   I was really happy with the way this cake came out. The hand painted butterflies definitely took a long time to decorate, but I think they were really worth it. I was a little nervous that with the heat and humidity of summer the gumpaste would start to flop in the refrigerator, but it held up strong! I hope the client enjoyed it and had a wonderful baby shower!
    If you are planning an event in the area and would like to get information about ordering a cake from me, get in touch through the "contact us" page on our website. Or, you can message us on Facebook. While we are not officially open and do not have a commercial kitchen at this time, I would be happy to give you some options available to friends. Also, for kindly bearing with us about this, we are offering a discount from our normal retail rates.